


Shadow Side

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Badass Rey, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Dark Side Rey, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gen, Jedi Rey (Star Wars), Other, Psychological Horror, Rey Literally Talks To Herself, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer, The Dark Side of the Force, kotor ii references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21776845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Rey confronts what could be.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 12
Collections: Allbingo





	Shadow Side

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Mirror Mirror: Doppelgangers Clones And Evil Doubles
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Call this my long overdue take on Dark Rey.

Rey knew the tomb of Ludo Kressh — which she had been drawn to despite herself — was adept at creating illusions. Making her way through, Finn and Poe and Rose all but trapped outside by that strange energy, Rey had seen things she’d have preferred to forget. Snippets from her life as a scavenger, for example. (She couldn’t help but be troubled; Ben had said her parents were buried in the Jakku desert, but how did that explain that strange silver ship flying away?) Her less-than-glorious moments, like being duped by Snoke. And even that hadn’t covered the other things she’d seen, like what happened when the First Order won...  
  
Rey opened the room to the last chamber, and saw something that seemed too familiar.   
  
The snowy grounds almost reminded Rey too much of the Starkiller planet — that had been a year ago, and she had been a different girl then. Even walking through the “snow”, Rey knew that it was in the end just an illusion — it didn’t crunch under her feet. It didn’t feel cold. It just felt like wisps around her feet, wisps of cold. Everything about it felt unreal, and she wished she had worn her old cloak from Ach-To; she already felt cold, and not just from the air of the tomb.   
  
And it was then that she saw the figure. For a ridiculous moment, Rey couldn’t help but wonder who it was, but then of course, the figure drew back her hood and Rey saw.   
  
It was her. Rey could already feel her skin erupting in chills. The doppelgänger didn’t draw her lightsaber immediately; she walked towards Rey with all the confidence of a queen, a surety that even Rey doubted she had.   
  
“I was wondering when you’d arrive,” the doppelgänger said. Even her eyes were wrong; they seemed so dark, almost flat, almost black. Like a night sky without stars. And how cold her voice sounded...besides the ridiculous initial reaction of Ri’ia-I-don’t-sound-like-that-at-all, there was the fact that her voice sounded like the ice on Hoth. “You’ve been running from your destiny long enough, Rey.”  
  
“My destiny?” Rey almost could have laughed. “I would never...” She could still remember the Mirror Cave on Ach-To, though, the voice on the Starkiller planet coaxing her to kill Kylo Ren where he lay. But it couldn’t be pre-ordained. It couldn’t just be a straight line that she had no choice but to follow.   
  
“Doesn’t it make sense, though?” said the doppelgänger. “Much more sense than the life you lead. You even said it to Kylo Ren. People think they know you, but they don’t. They see the hero of the Resistance, they see the woman who beat the Dark Side pretender in the snow, but they don’t know your history. They don’t know where you came from.”  
  
“They...” And yet, Rey couldn’t deny it. Sometimes it got tiring, being the hero of the Resistance. Especially when you felt unworthy, at times. Leftovers of what Plutt did. Leftovers of Kylo telling you you came from nothing, just because he was angry at Luke Skywalker’s rejection of him and needed someone to blame. “It doesn’t mean I’d fall! I’m not...evil...”  
  
“ ‘Evil’ is hardly the term I’d use,” said the doppelgänger. “You have strength, Rey. You’re more powerful than any current Force user, and yet you never had an opportunity to shape the galaxy the way it should have been. You know what it’s like,” and for a moment, she looked angry and sad. “The Republic wasted its time on trivia and nonsense, but they couldn’t spare time for Jakku. A planet full of scavengers wondering where their next meal’s coming from. The galaxy didn’t come to the Resistance’s aid at Crait either. When the credits are down...most people in the galaxy simply don’t care. Some wonder if it’s a question of fear. I wonder if it’s a question of apathy. Of narcissism.”  
  
She was talking, ranting, but Rey almost didn’t hear her. Instead, she thought, she imagined what it was like, had things been less fortunate. If she’d simply given in to bitterness. There was only so much that a child could take — hunger, endangerment, thirst, loneliness, humiliation, and more — before a volcano of rage all but built up in them. And then they grew to adulthood, and they took that anger with them, either hurting themselves or someone who had nothing to do with how they were treated. Could she have become someone like Kylo, like Ben? Rey shuddered to think of it.   
  
“You could give in,” said the doppelgänger. “You could reshape the galaxy the way it ought to be. Kylo Ren, the Dark Side imposter, crushed at your feet, his First Order demolished. Jakku a green paradise, never knowing hunger again. That’s what we on the Dark Side want. It’s how we got so far, many of us. We wanted a better galaxy. No more, no less.”  
  
“Would I have to give up Finn and everyone else just to get that better galaxy?” Rey said.   
  
The doppelgänger looked, for a moment, very alone. Then, “Turning to the Dark Side has its own share of sacrifices. They shouldn’t matter, in the end. Not when your purpose is much greater than that.”  
  
Rey swallowed. “Then that’s something I can’t do.”  
  
She had to give the doppelgänger credit; it had come up with a more convincing argument than Ben had. Then again, Ben’s argument had mostly boiled down to insulting her origins. Rey doubted he could ever have found a way to actually persuade her. Wound her, but never see through his eyes.   
  
The doppelgänger drew her lightsaber. It was a perfect replica of Rey’s own, just with a red crystal and not a blue one. Rey drew her own, and they fought. The doppelgänger was strong, but fighting really was a matter of muscle memory and creativity. Rey knew all too well how to fight with a double-bladed weapon, and when she clove through her doppelgänger —  
  
Her doppelgänger disappeared. Rey stood there, staring at the spot where her doppelgänger used to be. She couldn’t help but wonder if their fight against the First Order would take longer and have a higher body count thanks to rejecting the Dark Side...but she also couldn’t sacrifice her principles, or her friends. And she knew she couldn’t good as become a monster.   
  
She and Ben were different, but she could have become like him. Someone with all this power, with no idea what to do with it. If she wasn’t careful, she could have very well become like him.   
  
***  
  
Making her way back to the Falcon was almost like wandering back from a dream — from a nightmare. Even walking through the sands of Moraband, feeling stinging air whip her face, Rey couldn’t help but be relieved meeting back up with her friends. She’d have to find a way to tell them, of course. Then again, going into Ludo Kressh’s tomb and coming out with a knowledge of what might have been...how would they take it? How afraid would they be? Rey couldn’t help but wonder.   
  
She would tell them, when she was ready, she decided. Of course, her fight with the Dark Side was far from over. She wondered if it was a continuous thing, until you died. If the Dark Side was always there, trying to ensnare you. She shuddered to think. And what the doppelgänger had said in the cave...  
  
They had begun things like freeing the stormtroopers from the First Order. Rey wondered if, should she return to Jakku, she return there as a liberator in her own right. Freeing the scavengers. Making things better for people on Jakku. She would do that, without using the Dark Side. There were always other ways.   
  
And on the honor of the Resistance, she would not fall.


End file.
